Globally, violence against women (VAW), and feminicide as its most dramatic expression, represent a threat for women and society in general as well as a major public health problem. International mechanisms such as CEDAW, Belém do Pará and Istanbul Convention recognise the key role of media in shaping the advancement on women’s rights and the construction of social perspectives on VAW.

In fact, news coverage of VAW and feminicide can contribute to raising public awareness and condemning violence. However, it often reproduces stereotypes and thereby perpetuates discrimination against women. Although progress in terms of journalists training, self-regulation, the creation of journalistic codes of ethics, and media monitoring can be recorded, a lot still needs to be done considering the emerging fundamentalist discourses as well as the global backlash against women’s rights.

Objectives

The purpose of the workshop is to exchange, discuss and identify best practices in the promotion of gender-sensitive media. The workshop will give representatives from civil society, the media sector, regional and international mechanisms on VAW from the EU and the Latin American region the opportunity to present their research, experiences and projects.

Participants will be invited to jointly develop ideas on how to build and strengthen a process for the cooperation between the EU and Latin American countries and actors. Taking into account the common but also different regional challenges and circumstances, the workshop seeks to be a first step towards a successful collaboration. Finally, main findings of the debate including the best practices and challenges of and for the ongoing actions will be further developed in the form of concrete proposals for cooperation projects.